Now if you would like to turn to
scripture with me, I'll be looking at some
verses in the second epistle of Timothy and
You know thinking about this moment and Thinking
about The kind of things that we'll probably
look at and think about a little this
morning I Imagined that as we open our
Bibles here as we are now well We're
going to enjoy some fellowship with a seasoned
man of God and But having said that
Let me just point out something that's very
very obvious to each one of us and
that is That we're not sharing these moments
with this seasoned man of God over a
morning coffee You know on a veranda of
some overlooking some Middle Eastern countryside or something
What was sharing fellowship with him in a
prison cell?
But it's not a prison cell I've been
in a number of prison cells, but not
because I was being arrested and locked up
That's another story But what I do know
is the prison cell where this seasoned man
of God the Apostle Paul Is where we
shall meet with him in these minutes together
is an unimaginably repulsive Setting and a Roman
a Roman historian wrote about This place where
Paul was very likely being held he referred
to it as the the mammoth I'm prison
and He said it could be called the
house of darkness He said it it was
evidently dim and it was dank and it
was dirty and And he used other words
in his description words like neglect stench Hideous
even terrifying in appearance Well imagine I'm stretching
an imagination a little further here now, but
imagine that with somehow managing to text him
And communicate and we've got a question my
question to him would be my dear brother
What keeps you going?
there in that situation and I believe he
would answer like this.
He would say well and my Bible is
open in chapter 4 of 2 Timothy and
I'm looking down in verse 17 if you're
interested to be with me.
He would say well You know in my
first defense The Lord stood with me and
he strengthened me That by me the preaching
might be fully known and that all the
Gentiles might hear and I was delivered out
of the mouth of the lion Now he
comes right up to date and The Lord
shall deliver me from every evil work and
will preserve me unto his heavenly Kingdom to
whom be glory forever and ever Amen Well,
thank you Paul But you know as I
find you in this situation And then you're
responding in this way, that's just utterly tremendous
to find such a positive Victorious expression of
trust and faith in God notwithstanding whatever lies
ahead for you, but Can I ask another
question What what are your Preoccupying thoughts as
you spend your time there in that terrible
place He's pretty sure I believe this pretty
sure he knows what the outcome is going
to be of this particular imprisonment So I'd
like to know what he's thinking what goes
on What's making him tick in This situation
what concerns and what preoccupies his mind in
that situation?
Well, I believe This little epistle will help
us I certainly will not exhaust all that
we can find here this if we have
longer than the minutes we have But I
believe what we find him saying and recording
in this little epistle to Timothy It's tremendously
helpful.
I don't think there'll be any surprises for
any of us As I start reading through
this epistle I readily discover that The Apostle
is concerned that the purity of the truth
Should be preserved You know the truth of
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ Was
uniquely entrusted to this man the message of
the gospel Paul will refer to it Writing
to the Roman Church as the gospel of
God and with various other descriptions I can
think of in other letters But we must
realize as we approach this that He What
he knows or what he knew of this
gospel He hadn't learned from his parents.
You know to put it in a rather
different setting.
He wasn't raised in a Christian home He
had a very remarkable background of beginning certainly,
but he wasn't raised in a Christian home
and He never went to Sunday school.
I don't know what Sunday school is like
today because I've been there for a long
time But I do believe I may be
right to say this that in many cases
Sunday school today is A far cry from
the kind of experience I had in Sunday
school Even as even as I'm saying these
very words right now I'm thinking of a
man called Bill Buckley long gone into the
presence of the Lord I was a young
young boy at this point in time But
even now these dear me many many decades
later I can still hear Bill Buckley with
us a group of boys around him I
was one of them as he was teaching
us from Psalm 100.
It's as clear as that The men that
that led the church and assembly that I
belong to they believe that the Bible was
the inspired inerrant Word of God and They
believed that to teach the Bible was the
most important thing that could possibly be imparted
to a group of young boys I'm not
Necessarily sure that things like that are always
going on today, but I'm sure they are
in places.
God knows but The fact of the matter
is that the Apostle Paul he hadn't been
to some great Gospel crusade and made a
response there or something we all know what
happened there was that dramatic event on the
Damascus Road that completely and permanently transformed him
inwardly Transformed his focus and his understanding and
from that point God began to speak to
him Let's see what he says.
I'm just turning back for a moment in
the to the epistle of Galatians and in
chapter 1 verse 11 but I certify you
brethren that the gospel which was preached of
me was not after man For I neither
received it of man neither was I taught
it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ
For you have heard of my Conversation on
my manner of life in times past in
the Jews religion how that beyond measure I
persecuted the Church of God and wasted it
and Profited in the Jews religion above many
my equals in my own nation Being more
exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my father's
but when it pleased God who separated me
from my mother's womb and Called me by
his grace to reveal his son in me
that I might preach him among the heathen
Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood
neither went I up to Jerusalem to them
which were apostles before me And I went
into Arabian returned again unto Damascus And then
he goes on you can find the rest
of the story in chapter 1 of Galatians
But the fact of the matter is That
the Apostle Paul was uniquely taught by God
and how thankful we are today and There
have been precious men and women of God
down through the ages who would have said
the very same thing how grateful we all
have been and continue to be for the
inspired and anointed words that he was able
to Get down onto paper of some sort
and here we have it today, and we
know that that the great themes of doctrine
that God revealed to him and We could
pause for a long time thinking about them
as he He learned about the grace of
God That is extended to men and women
through the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus
Christ He teaches in his letters about justification
that tremendously important foundational truth The Lord revealed
to him the true meaning and significance of
the cross itself All of these things so
crucial to our understanding and form the very
foundations of the of the Christian gospel But
you know Paul's grasp of the gospel included
Concluded and highlighted features beyond what I've just
been referring to they were all built on
what I've just talked about and mentioned You
know if I can pivot off just for
a moment to illustrate something When I first
left school We left school at age 15
in those days and my birthday is in
August and so before the summer holidays I
was 14 when I left school That's why
I'm not so bright today, I guess But
you know I I got a job in
a in a car dealership It was an
upmarket car dealership.
This is how it all started for me
and Every Friday all of us who worked
in the in the office.
We made our way to the the pay
office the accounts office and we go to
a little window there and The man behind
the desk mr..
Davis is a measure of interest he would
look through a little sort of Box he
had there, and he would pick out my
pay packet as we would call this in
those days and But I'm imagining in for
the purpose of my illustration that on this
particular occasion perhaps it was the first day
I went there to pick up my pay
and Instead of going to that little box
with all the envelopes in it he opened
a journal and He's showing this open page
to me, and he's pointing to my name
And he's pointing to the amount that was
my wages for the week And he was
done And I'm bewildered because I needed more
than to just see Something documented that had
been arranged on my behalf.
I was there for the money I needed
I needed some money to take home.
I needed to give some to my mother
and And I needed some to pay off
my my bicycle payment Which I had at
that time my doors domino bicycle But there
you are I needed more than just something
Documented and if we think in terms of
the the great truths of the justification That's
unfolded in Scripture, which is absolutely imperative to
my salvation and to yours also But but
thank God that Paul understood something that was
so so necessary and is so necessary today
and sadly I think there are a lot
of people who miss it, but he understood
that there was a dimension of the Christian
gospel which I could hear and and and
find faith quickened in my heart to believe
and God would do something Dynamic in my
in my heart and in my life It
was this that caused him to write verses
like Romans chapter 1 and verse 16 when
he said for I am NOT ashamed of
the gospel of Christ for it is the
power of God unto salvation or unto deliverance
to Everyone that believeth to the Jew first
and also to the Greek Amen, what a
wonderful thing.
It is that Paul is not merely teaching,
you know And educating people in theology he's
presenting a message which is dynamic because of
the Holy Spirit and that he understood to
be Unveiling and quickening the very Word of
God to men and women and thereby Producing
this life transformation Paul will teach that this
this dynamic power of the of God through
the gospel and Will deliver men and women
from sins consequences He understood that this gospel
would deliver men and women from sins power
He breaks the power of cancelled sin.
He sets the prisoner free He understood that
ultimately Believing and responding to this gospel that
was committed to him that he was preaching
And would actually deliver men and women from
sins presence in that ultimate day Hallelujah, he
understood that the Holy Spirit of God would
would infuse into these true believers life even
the life of God and And The result
would be that the very Christ of God
would be revealed in and through men and
women who were once sinners and The Apostle
Paul carried this message through the days of
his ministry and he carried it as though
it was a treasure As a matter of
fact just looking back into this epistle of
2nd Timothy if you just let your eye
drop down to verse 13 Paul is writing
to Timothy let me pause before I read
the words Don't forget where I started the
Apostle Paul carried this concern It was a
great concern to him that the purity of
the truth should not become polluted or corrupted
in any way He's counting on Timothy here
as he writes this letter to him verse
13 of chapter 1 hold fast the form
of sound words, that's the gospel At which
thou has heard of me in faith and
love which is in Christ Jesus That good
thing that's the gospel Which was committed unto
thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth
in us.
Do you see this?
He's referring to to the gospel as sound
words And another translation puts that same word
like this healing doctrines doctrine teaching that provides
a healing for the souls of men and
women and Transforms their very lives the lives
that they live in verse 14 he calls
it that good thing under the translation calls
it the good deposit and he's Cautioning Timothy
and encouraging him at the same time to
hold fast to this You know, you heard
it through me.
You received the blessing of it in your
life Timothy Don't let anything at all ever
Be successful in corrupting it Amen Why is
Paul so concerned about the purity of this
gospel Well simply it was this He he
knew Very very well indeed That the very
message itself was under attack It was under
attack.
It is Currently under attack and the Apostle
Paul knew That where Satan himself was unable
to eliminate the gospel he was engaging in
distorting the message and Nothing has changed on
that account.
In fact, perhaps it's more glaringly obvious today
than it has been for a good many
years But Paul understood that In his consciousness
that the message was was vulnerable They never
had a New Testament like the one I'm
looking at as I look down here And
they never had that was not yet put
together as we have it today And it
was being passed on by word of mouth
and the very letters He was writing would
form part of the inspired Word of God
in the days ahead, but he had no
idea about that, of course How could he?
But it needed to be passed on from
one to another and hence Paul is looking
toward Timothy at this particular moment in this
in this important moment in his own life
He knew that the only way he would
come out of that dreadful cell where he
was would be to be led by the
executioner So much depended on Timothy So far
as the gospel was concerned.
Let me just move on with a different
view here concerning this Conversation I'm having with
Paul.
I think he would Demonstrate through his letter
here that he was concerned about his beloved
brethren his friends everywhere He had a special
relationship with Timothy But then he had a
same kind of relationship with Titus and he
had similar relationships with so many You know
in the world in which we live I
don't think anyone will challenge me on this
friendship Just friendship in the world is one
of humanity's great blessings Where it is shown
and exchanged and so on but you know
within the family of God Within Within the
church a long time ago.
I wrote a little leaflet.
I can't remember the exact title, but I
was I was distinguishing Contrast or at least
a difference between what is the church and
what is the churches And That's tempting to
talk about rather more than I want to
right now but there is a distinction between
just a group of people who meet in
a church in an assembly and the true
Church of God those who've entered in to
the fullness of the blessing which is in
Christ and so on and You know the
word translated for us into The word fellowship
is the word koinonia many of you will
know that and There are a couple of
occasions where it's translate translated differently and one
of those are the translations is Communion we
find the word communion because that's really what
fellowship is It's it's a common union and
within the true Church of Jesus Christ Those
members enjoy a common union which is far
more than just Getting along or sharing some
particular interests that other people seem to have
in the same way as we do but
it refers to it refers to a unique
bond it refers to a union as a
matter of fact and the reason for this
Being shared is because we all are baptized
into the one spirit We drink of the
one spirit.
We have the same spirit the Spirit of
God Within us that then is the basis
of true fellowship.
This is be it includes friendship The greater
always includes the lesser it includes friendship that
we know in the world, but it's bigger
than that It's from far bigger.
It's something so real and Not everyone who
names the name of Christ Experiences it but
it is at the end of the day
the day the normal experience for true Christian
men and Christian women and and Paul Paul
knew that he talked about it in a
variety of different ways in his letters and
You know Paul who was once the the
persecutor of the church by his own confession
Has been so radically transformed that at this
point in time.
He cherishes the Church of Jesus He cherishes
the Saints as I say that I'm thinking
of a young man in the church Fellowship
group that I was part of in England
many years ago, and I will never forget
him saying to me He said Fred I
cherish the church Well, praise God for that
the Apostle Paul most certainly Cherished the church.
He loved the church this was the product
of the Christian gospel being worked into and
Through the lives of those who were believing
it fully and properly and Supremely of course
it would be only right to add this
that so that Paul Again supremely was a
lover of Jesus That was the basis of
it all in his heart and the Holy
Spirit of God had shed abroad The love
of God in his heart as he does
in all true believers.
He had the same spirit he had the
same love of God in his own heart
and And Paul Supremely a lover of Jesus,
but he was also a great lover of
the people of God and To him the
the people of God the people in the
churches That he knew that he fellowshiped with
and taught They to him they were not
merely the congregants You Know the congregants who
was supplying the dollars for him to have
and live like a CEO in an extravagant
lifestyle That's how I see so much today
But no, these were men and women in
many cases that had been born through born
of God, but through his own prayer and
Perseverance and his love and ministry to them.
That's why he would refer to To Timothy
as my own dear son Timothy wasn't the
only one he referred to like that.
He referred to Titus like that for example,
just a page or two away, but the
He loved he was a lover.
This was the gospel to him the man
who was a persecutor of the church now
is a man of such profound Supernatural Passion
for the people he loved can you can
I pause there for a moment?
There was nothing Isolationist about him.
He's isolated now in this prison, but his
heart was so open to people He wanted
to be with but one of one of
these other passions was one day to go
to Rome because he knew in his Thinking
Rome is the center of the world and
the Rome needs to hear this message And
he got there, but not quite the way
he expected But but wonderful wonderful things in
a very real sense.
So many of the people that were his
friends What was in a spiritual sense?
They were his children and he loved them
with the love of God and Because again,
you know the word of this Let me
just at least add to this a little
bit by saying because there was Barnabas there
was Russell there was Luke there was Priscilla
and Aquila there's There was Lydia there was
a paphrodite us there was there was John
Mark You know and the elders in Ephesus
I'm thinking of just now but you know
and then of course to top that if
you want you can turn to the 16th
chapter of The book of Romans where he
writes and you'll see that he lists.
I believe it's no less than than 30
30 names and as you read through do
read through that list.
It's as though the whole list is just
saturated in affection and Appreciation of the Apostle
as he writes Wonderful, how easily today someone's
called a pastor Hello, I I reject the
title Jesus never had a title.
He was never pastor Jesus.
He was Jesus and I'm just Fred But
Paul he's got all these people various friends,
they're the people of God how about thinking
about Another verse of Scripture.
I'll just read to you from Thessalonians and
in chapter chapter 2 If you if you
look down, you'll see Paul Saying this verse
7, but we were gentle among you even
as a nurse Cherishes her children do you
get this?
So being affectionately desirous of you We were
willing to have imparted unto you Not the
gospel of God only but also our own
souls Because you were dear unto us And
then he goes on For you remember breath
and s9 Our labor and travail for laboring
night and day because we would not be
Chargeable to you or unto any of you
we preached unto you the gospel of God
And you are witnesses God also how holy
and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among
you and And You know how we exhorted
and comforted and charged every one of you
as a father does his children Glory to
God You remember he writes to the Galatians
and he says so much my little children
He said of whom I again I am
again in labor Until Christ is formed in
you do you catch this?
This was a man who carried this incredible
treasure called the gospel And he preached it,
but it wasn't just words There was power
in it that created in him this transformation
And he saw it repeating That as he
preached it to others Amen, you know Just
briefly that there's a there's a statement.
It's a truism isn't it if you love
deeply you're going to get hurt deeply and
You know No, no one was more aware
of this than the Apostle Paul he knew
that he knew about the demonic powers of
Darkness he knew about the malicious hatred of
people who refused the gospel He he knew
about himself and what he had been and
how he behaved But there was one thing
it seems to me that he felt very
deeply and That was the disappointment When it
wasn't just the people of the world who
hated the gospel and wanted nothing to do
with it wasn't the Devil himself and all
of his legions working against it.
It was the people who had heard the
gospel and to various degrees have made their
responses to the gospel and I Think I
think his his loving heart only And Intensified
his vulnerability to these painful disappointments, which he
would feel You know if you want to
turn back to chapter 4 again in our
epistle And you look here.
I'm looking I mean he's talked about Alexander
the coppersmith in verse 14 whoever he was
But Paul says he did me much evil.
I don't know what that evil was and
They makes the statement the Lord reward him
according to his works And of whom Be
thou aware also For he has greatly withstood
our words But then he goes on in
verse 16 He says at my first answer
this was his first defense when he was
brought before the judge a long time earlier
He says at my first answer.
No man stood with me, but all men
forsook me Tragedy I just read verse 17
to you a few minutes ago how the
Lord stood with him and And that was
wonderful, but what a tragedy is this he
said You know no one stood with me
you know and We could go back to
chapter 1 if you want to go there,
and I think I'm going to go to
I'll just go right to verse 15 this
thou knowest he's saying Timothy.
You know this you know this very well
That all they which are in Asia Be
turned away from me That's why most of
his ministry took place all they Which are
in Asia turned away from me.
Let me just remind you of the circumstances
in which this great Seasoned man of God
finds himself at this point.
He's at the end of the trail as
we say he knows that And he's in
a horrible horrible horrible circumstance deplorable situation His
heart's in faith.
This is amazing.
This is the grace of God where in
this most extreme moment He's concerned about the
gospel he's concerned about his friends.
He's concerned for their safety He's concerned that
they will Grasp the truths of the gospel
that they've heard taught by him and that
they continue to present and preach them everywhere
But he also carried in his heart somewhere
this pain this hurt that people You know
that it meant so much to him Had
left him and back in the 15th verse
again, they've all turned away from me of
whom He says phagellus and homogenous Now the
point is with those two names their names
which are The etched into infamy because they're
the names of two deserters These these were
evidently men You know, how can I put
this these were people They they were also
from Ephesus.
I Don't know whether you've read recently in
patch chapter 20.
I don't have time to read there though
I would very much love to do that
right now as Paul is about to leave
Ephesus.
He's with the elders on the seashore and
Many of them are falling on his neck.
They Grieve deeply because they've heard him say
that you won't see my face anymore And
this seems to be such love and yet
you will also remember that Paul says some
very very Challenging things to them that even
from their own company there would be those
who would raise that would be raised up
or would rise up rather and They would
be enemies of the gospel I don't know
what it was to felt to hear that
said but that there's some reason I can't
prove this But there's some reason for me
to believe since Paul mentions these two names
as he and he says to Timothy You
know very well about these people But they
could very well have been there when Timothy
was also there on that seashore on that
occasion And had those things that were said
And yet what happened?
Was heartbreaking to the Apostle they had received
Paul as a man of God They had
received his message as the Word of God
To one degree or another they'd labored with
him In some way or another in some
degree or another co-workers But here's the
point the cost of integrity Was too great
for them You know You know even even
for the man who'd led them to the
narrow gate And showed to them the narrow
way You know very well Paul he says
I'm tragic You know I don't want to
finish on this note I Want to say
this quickly before I finish Although I believe
Paul was deeply pained By the fact that
so many had left him and walked away
Yet, I find not a trace of bitterness
in him and that's a wonder and again
it refers me to the gospel of grace
and You know I won't finish on the
negative note Let's just look again chapter 1
here And I'm going to read And
I've just been reading to you verse 15
which we referred to these two men by
Gellis and homogenies Verse 16 the Lord give
mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus For he
off refreshed me and was not ashamed of
my chain But when he was in Rome
he sought me out very diligently and found
me the Lord grant unto him that he
may find mercy of the Lord in that
day and In how many things he ministered
unto me as Ephesus Thou knowest very well
Do you hear that Oh Nessa for us
his name means help bringer He was from
the Ephesus Church He was well known evidently.
I want you to just think about this
man Just before I finish off this talk
with you this morning or in this session
That man in Ephesus possibly an elder He
he says goodbye to his family And to
the church fellowship there And he walks out
from that town that city and he walks
into terrible terrible danger The big question for
him because his mission was to go and
see Paul He wanted to be with Paul.
He wanted to encourage Paul He'd ministered to
him so faithfully for a long time there
in Ephesus as Paul was there Things had
changed so dramatically now and he set out
to go and find Paul and But where
is Paul and I love it in verse
in verse 17 that he says but when
He wasn't he wasn't ashamed of my chain.
Okay, but when he was in Rome, he
got to Rome He sought me out very
diligently and he found me see He didn't
know where Paul was precisely knew he was
being imprisoned somehow or other probably asking questions,
which would make him very vulnerable in that
city at that time and He gained information
and then it was well, you know, this
is only my own mind thing Well, which
cell is he and where is he and
I love these words.
He said he he sought me out very
diligent This is the love of God in
a man's heart that's prepared to sacrifice everything
as Paul had been for him so now
he Seeks him out It's only in my
imagination.
I can't do better than that But I
love these words and Paul says he found
me He found me somehow or other whether
I don't know whether he saw him through
a hole in the roof of the cell
that some people might suggest or how but
But at some point their faces met they
saw each other Paul saw this beloved and
cherished brother that he felt he owed so
much to and This dear man Onesiphorus he
saw the Apostle they saw each other I
think for Saul for Paul rather in the
prison.
It was as though Jesus Christ himself had
walked into the cell This leaves me with
a few questions Okay, Onesiphorus ministered to Paul
for no less than three years.
We read He is now having been with
Paul having found him he's no longer with
him Where is he what I do know
is that Paul in this very 16th verse
On Chapter 4 and there's 16 But
the fact of the matter is Paul is
saying and I'm praying for his household He
says that again in the fourth chapter He's
praying that salute Priscilla and Aquila and the
household of Onesiphorus Why would he say that?
It's certainly not wrong to say that but
why doesn't he make a reference to Onesiphorus?
Could it be I don't know Could it
be that Onesiphorus never made it home?
from that trip The man Paul loved so
passionately Perhaps somehow word got back to Paul
prior to him writing this to Timothy that
he never did get home Paul says remember
his family remember his household What what a
wonderful thing indeed and the Apostle Paul here
you know, he's presented to us such a
such a stark contrast between And Phil Gallus
and Hermogenes, you know, they turned away from
the Apostle in the time of Paul's own
need but Onesiphorus he often refreshed Paul he
says and and He wasn't ashamed of my
chains Hmm Amen He was a faithful bold
fearless Christian man was Onesiphorus Well, we must
leave the Apostle Paul on this occasion Our
last glimpse of him as we leave is
not that of a bitter old man nursing
his hurts But we're saying goodbye to a
true lover of Jesus a Faithful Christian soldier
who had fought the good fight and had
finished his calling He never lost his grip
on the treasure that had been entrusted to
him I Imagine Excuse me for using my
imagination.
I Imagined his eyes were wet as he
stepped through that final portal Yes, his heart
would have been a burning furnace I Am
assured in my heart and in my mind
That the hands that embraced him as he
went through that final portal Would tenderly wipe
away every tear From his eyes and perhaps
just whisper into his ear Well done Paul
My good and faithful servant Enter thou into
the joys of thy Lord Can I just
ask if you've found help here tell me
I'd love to hear Go to turn to
the scriptures with Fred Tomlinson and say something
More than that.
I'd love to see you all Come on
to our online Sunday morning meeting You can
find information about that at the website McKenzie
fellowship calm Father we pray that you will
use your word for your purpose and your
glory and for the blessing of hungry hearts
that are ready to devour every precious crumb
That a person such as I am able
to hand to them.
Thank you Lord for for your added blessing
that Is so abundantly poured out For men
and women such as we in Jesus name.
We thank you father